Building the Chino Hills Bio-Link

For humans relaxing or recreating in the park, Chino Hills is an island of tranquillity in a sea of urbanization. For the plants and animals in the park, Chino Hills is a link to other natural areas. Southern California is so heavily urbanized that it is impossible to preserve the huge tracts of land needed to ensure species diversity. However, by providing a major biological link between islands of open space, Chino Hills effectively makes habitats larger.

Water Canyon Natural Preserve and Coal Canyon make up a biological corridor that allows wide-ranging species like bobcats, mountain lions and a variety of rare species to avoid becoming trapped in isolated patches of habitat. When small patches of wilderness are cut off from other open space areas, many of the species present at the time of isolation will inevitably disappear. Biological corridors help to maintain healthy populations of plants and animals by allowing for genetic exchange, species migration and repopulating after a catastrophe such as a fire.